Boulder council to weigh in on off-leash dog rules

Study session to cover green tag program, other open space issues

Simon Sparks walks with his daughter, Violet, and their dog, Lucy, at Chautauqua on Friday afternoon. The Boulder City Council is considering new rules for off-leash dogs on open space.
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CLIFF GRASSMICK
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Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks officials hope that more education and outreach -- coupled with stiffer penalties -- will get more dog owners to follow the rules of the voice-and-sight-control program, which allows people to let their dogs off leash on many trails.

"Fundamentally, the voice-and-sight tag program is a pretty unique program for any open space program near an urban area," said Steve Armstead, an environmental planner for Open Space and Mountain Parks. "It's highly valued by dog guardians, and it does present a challenge. We're anticipating that participating guardians have control over their dog so they don't pose a risk to other users or to wildlife. The general feeling in the community is that there is still room for improvement."

Dog owners represented by Friends Interested in Dogs and Open Space believe the city has greatly exaggerated the percentage of dogs that don't respond to owners' commands or behave aggressively toward wildlife. They say they have no problem with more education, but increased penalties and a proposed "two strikes" rule that could cause owners to lose their privileges -- even for more minor issues like not picking up dog waste -- are going too far.

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"If you support dogs on open space, you can't expect them to be robots," said Lori Fuller, a board member of FIDOS. "You can't expect them to have a higher compliance rate than people for some of the rules."

The Boulder City Council will discuss proposed changes to the voice-and-sight tag program Tuesday night, along with other open space management issues such as parking and commercial use permits.

Like most open space user issues in Boulder, the debate over off-leash dogs has been contentious at times.

The city commissioned a study of dog behavior on open space that found just 56 percent of dogs with green tags responded to their owners' first or second command to come. They also found that many dogs were involved in "conflicts" with other dogs or people.

That dogs respond immediately to commands is supposed to be a requirement of the voice-and-sight tag program.

Members of FIDOS object to the city's methodology, in particular that the city only counted dogs that received a command. Fuller said many well-behaved dogs were not counted because their owners didn't need to give them any commands while observers were watching.

"The dogs are held to a very, very high standard, higher than people, so we do feel discriminated against by the amount of energy the department is putting on a single user group," Fuller said. "At the same time, there is room for things to be better."

Open space officials have backed off from a proposal to test dogs to see if they will respond to an owner's command. Instead, they want all owners to attend an information session on the expectations of the program before they can get a tag. The sessions would also provide an opportunity to refer owners to training programs if their dogs aren't up to the standards.

There would be a grace period for people who hold current voice-and-sight tags to allow everyone time to attend a session.

The city also wants to take away voice-and-sight tags from people whose dogs act aggressively or chase wildlife or who have two dog-related infractions within two years, even if the offenses aren't specifically related to being off-leash.

However, officials have said they would develop a path to reinstatement.

Fuller said she would like to see that path in writing.

While she understands the need for safety, walking dogs off-leash is important to many owners, she said, and it shouldn't be taken away for minor issues.

"I've heard it described as, 'Walking a dog on a leash on open space is not a good walk for the person or the dog,' and I've heard, 'Walking a dog on a leash is like drinking light beer,'" she said. "What's the point?"

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